P.E.A.C.E.

Peace and blessings to all, particularly the family and supporters of Mr. Floyd Miller and the West Texas Tribune’s readership. For nearly a year now, Fraternal Order of X-Offenders, Inc. (F.O.X.O.) has had the opportunity to be a part of the West Texas Tribune Family via sharing our wisdom, knowledge and understanding regarding the causes, effects and solution to deter, decrease and ultimately to prevent the pathology of criminality and delinquency throughout this nation.

As many of you may know or may not know, FOXO Inc. is a non-profit 501C (3) Grassroots Organization created by X-Offenders to prevent, deter and decrease the prevalence of crime, drugs, violence and gang activity through research, program development and training. FOXO’s research is designed to evaluate social pathologies within our communities from a social, psychological, economical, political, cultural/spiritual and historical perspective. We identify and develop effective strategies and national partnership to assess and access funding sources to enhance our collective capacity to deter, decrease, and prevent the proliferation of crime, drugs, and violence in the community. Our mission encompasses serving to develop and build capacity in community based and faith based organizations as well as academic institutions; to enhance the quality of life for all stake holders, at risk youth and families.

FOXO Mission
Our mission is to design, develop and implement innovative, creative and proactive crime prevention processes that incorporate the unconventional methodologies and empiricism of the X-Offender population.

FOXO Objectives
The objective is to increase the awareness of the problems of crime, drugs and violence that are prominent in our society by implementing the “4-C Paradigm” which includes:
• To increase the awareness of the problems of crime, drugs and violence that is prominent in our society.
• To educate the general public, service providers, adult/juvenile offenders, as well as at-risk youth regarding the psychology and sociology of criminality.
• To change the attitude towards criminal behavior
• To change the behavior of all stakeholders within the community.
FOXO has assessed the Public health paradigm, which indicates that crime, drugs, violence and gang prevention and intervention strategies can be categorized into three levels: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. A comprehensive approach addresses all three pathologies at each of these levels within a specific community i.e. individual and family.

FOXO data indicates that the leading cause of death among African American males ages 15 to 34 is homicide. The data also indicates that between 1976 and 2004, 100% of the Black murder victims were killed by 94% Black offenders.

In previous articles, we have written about issues such as the history of
1.) Crime in America, 2.) The Economics of Poverty, 3.) The Race to Incarceration, 4.) The Perpetual Prison, Industrial Complex, 5.) The War on Drugs, 6.) The Core-Relationship between Crime, Drugs, and Violence, 7.) The Inter-Connection of Issues such as Power, Politics, Crimes, Racism, Classcism, Elitism and/or The Inter-Dynamics of Racism, Classcism and the Majority Incarceration Rate of Poor and Black Minority People of Color, 8.) Re-Thinking, Re-Shaping, Re-Evaluating, Re-Entry, 9.) Community Re-Entry,
10.) Black on Black Crimes, 11.) Breaking the Cycle of Inter-Generational Dynamics of Parental Criminality and Child Delinquency, and
12.) Proper Education Always Corrects Errors.

Many people believe that communities that have high rates of homicides also have high rates of other crimes. Research indicates that the following indicators are very prevalent in communities that have high rates of crimes, drugs, violence and gang activities are: high rates of poverty, high rates of out of wedlock births, high rates of teenage pregnancies, high rates of single female households, high incarceration rates of Black Males, high school drop-out rates, high unemployment rates, high rates of repeated offenders, high concentration of returning releasees from jails and prisons, high rates of people on parole/probation, high rates of substance users/abusers meaning sellers, buyers and stick-up artists, etc.

Please be advised readers, that the primary purpose of this one year anniversary article is to challenge us to acknowledge that “time dictates the agenda” for us to move from dis-unity towards community “our community is our responsibility” to promote peace.
Who Benefits?
Cities such as Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Baltimore, with large Black population experience the nation’s highest rates of murder and violent crimes. This high murder rate is predominantly a black pandemic. FOXO’s research of Bureau Justice Statistics, indicates that between 1976 and 2005, blacks, while 13% of the population committed more than 52 % of the nation’s homicides, blacks also were more than 46 % of the homicide victims. Ninety-four percent of black homicide victims had a black person as their murderer.
Blacks are not only the primary victims of homicide, but blacks also suffer high rates of all other serious violent crimes as both the victims and perpetrators which is nothing short of two edges of the same self-homicide, self-genocide, self-destructive sword.

Community Crime Prevention Initiative is a community advocacy support and strengths-based, customized mediation and behavior modification process aimed at helping people meet their communities’ unmet needs both within and outside of formal human services systems, while they remain in their neighborhoods and homes, whenever possible. To appreciate the potential fruit from this process, the collective community must address the root (The Thinking). FOXO’s Cognitive Reconstruction is teaching people new ways of thinking that will influence their thinking and/or teaching people new ways of thinking that will influence and/or control their behavior that promotes pro-social skills vs. anti-social skills. The methodology that FOXO uses is derived from its National DVD Training that addresses the Psychology of Sociology and Criminality. The premise is that everyone in the community is a stakeholder within the community and they should take personal responsibility and personal accountability for everyone else needs assessment, risk assessment and criminogenic assessment in their community so that the community’s protected factors are maximized while the community risk factors are minimized to ensure and promote community public safety.

FOXO members who participated in our Crime Prevention Initiatives were present at the FOXO ReEntry Summit. We want to thank and recognize our multiple partners and stakeholders including national, local, federal, state and citywide participants, i.e. funders, service providers, clients, customers, consumers, mentors and spiritual institutions. Special Thanks and to all FOXO Board of Director Members particularly, our FOXO’s Board of Director Chairperson, Tara Andrews, Esq.; Executive Administrator, Ayzah Corbett; and Johns Hopkins Youth Violence Prevention Center Staff and FOXO’s Outreach Team. Our special gratitude goes to Raymond Marbury who is a FOXO’s Fellow, Ph.D Candidate , who does extensive research on FOXO’s behalf.

Tara Andrews, Esquire, is challenging all summit attendees to evolve
from individual spectators to become collective participators in the
FOXO’s Community Crime Prevention Movement. Tara Andrews is the recipient of an award for the Up and Coming of Who’s Who in 100s Black America among many other awards. She is a humble servant, ordained minister, multiple advanced degrees who loves building the capacity of raw talent. She has been the executive/deputy director of local, state-wide and national organizations. She is an advid advocate for policy reform that affects disengaged, disconnected and disenfranchised populations, particularly young people. FOXO’s indebtness to Tara Andrews, Esquire is much wider than words could ever specify.
Left to Right: Salwin Ray, Esq. Executive Director of Maryland Mentoring Partnership; Michael J.Klag, MD, MPH, Dean of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Mayor Sheila Dixon, Mayor of Baltimore City; Ellsworth Johnson-Bey, Founder/President of FOXO; and Dr. Philip Leaf, Ph.D, Director of Johns Hopkins Youth Violence Prevention Center were present at the FOXO Rentry Summit December 2008. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Youth Violence Prevention Center were the Co-Sponsors of FOXO’S Annual ReEntry Crime Prevention Summit.

Note: We are now suggesting and requesting that if you want to see the breath and the depth of the work FOXO has done as an organization, please put in Fraternal Order of X-Offenders in the Google.com search engine.

We encourage the West Texas Tribune Readers to dialogue with us personally to provide their comments, questions, suggestions to enhance FOXO’s ability to provide service to our national community. Also, we encourage people, agencies and organizations who are providing services to be a guest on our radio program via telephone.

We also encourage you to call into FOXO radio program on WBOL 1010 AM Radio at
410-481-1010 on Sundays 2-4 pm Eastern Time.

Orders for DVDs, requests for seminar presentations or training, direct all questions, comments and concerns to:

Editor’s Note: The West Texas Tribune welcomes Brother Ellsworth Johnson-Bey (Better Known as Brother Bey). Brother Bey is Founder and President of Fraternal Order of Ex-Offenders (F.O.X.O), Inc. Brother Bey has a wealth of knowledge that is of value to ex-offenders, their families and the general communities regarding strategies to deter, decrease and prevent intergenerational dynamics of adult criminality and child/youth delinquencies. Brother Bey’s organization believes that purpose and passion from all stakeholders who love themselves, family and community can be the fuel that energizes partnerships to resolve social pathologies.

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